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Synonyms: Biebersteiniaceae Schnizl.; Ledocarpaceae Meyen; Rhynchothecaceae A. Juss.; Vivianiaceae Klotzsch
Common name: Geranium Family.
Number of genera 14. Number of species 730.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium, or anthocarp; simple, or schizocarp, or compound; capsule; achenarium (Biebersteinia); achenosum (not Spjut); septifragal capsule (Balbisia), or loculicidal capsule (Viviania); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; schizocarp; polachenarium (Geranium); with persistent central column, or without persistent central column; solid central column shaft (assumed); valves diverging from top of central column (resembling umbrella ribs) (more or less); with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within calyx; more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 2–8-seeded; (2–)5(–8)-carpellate (mostly 5, less often 2–3 but 8 in Dirachne); with carpels not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex beaked; apex long beaked; wall chartaceous, or leathery; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; actively; elastically; at base; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; smooth; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; without grooves; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; 5 to less than 10 mm long; 6 mm long; oblong and straight; in transection compressed, or terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves, or without apparent food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; dull, or shiny; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate, or rugose; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other, or with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous, or pubescent; with hairs over surface; with short hairs; sparsely hairy; with straight hairs; without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve, or surrounding embryo. Endosperm development nuclear; scant, or copious (Viviania); fleshy; smooth; with oils (Viviania); without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve), or nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve), or completely filling testa (no food reserve); 1.6 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric, or peripheral; foliate, or linear; with spatulate cotyledons; bent, or U-shaped, or straight, or arcuate, or flatly coiled (circinate); oblique to seed length (for some); with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle, or gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green, or green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.4–0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle, or somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1–3.5 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat, or once-folded, or plicate; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantemperate and pansubtropical (widespread in temperate & warm-temperate regions, with relative few tropical species). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe.
Notes
Fruit commonly of 5, 1-seeded mericarps that seperate elastically & acropetally from persistent central column, the mericarps often opening to dehisce a large seed. In other genera a loculicidal capsule or separating into mericarps but withoiut persistent central column. Problem: Gynoceium with prominent elongated, persistent central column (often termed a stylar beak) to which the fertile, locular protion of ovary appears to be attached in a lobed ring at the base.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Colorado (CO), Washington (WA).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Her.: USA state noxious weed: CO●. -- Geranium robertianum L.: USA state noxious weed: WA●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Erodium botrys (Cav.) Bertol. -- Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Her. -- Erodium moschatum (L.) L'Her. -- Geranium carolinianum L. -- Geranium columbinum L. -- Geranium dissectum L. -- Geranium maculatum L. -- Geranium molle L. -- Geranium pusillum L. -- Geranium L. spp. -- Geranium viscosissimum Fisch. & C. A. Mey. -- Pelargonium L'Her. spp. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Hér.-- Geranium columbinum L.w -- Geranium dissectum L.w -- Geranium molle L.w -- Geranium nepalense Sweet -- Geranium robertianum L. -- Pelargonium Zonale Group f -- Pelargonium graveolens L'Her. -- Pelargonium × hortorum L. H. Bailey = Pelargonium Zonale Group -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Araeoandra Lefor -- Balbisia Cav., nom. cons. -- Biebersteinia Stephan -- Caesarea Cambess. -- Cissarobryon Kunze ex Poepp. -- Erodium L'Hér. -- Geranium L. -- Monsonia L. -- Pelargonium L'Hér. -- Rhynchotheca Ruiz & Pav. -- Sarcocaulon (DC.) Sweet -- Viviania Cav. -- Wendtia Meyen, nom. cons
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 828 (also see Dirachmaceae). Schaefer, C.W. 1975. A taxonomic revision of the Vivianiaceae. Univ. Connecticut Occas. Pap., Biol. Sci. Ser. 2:225–255.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, Corner, E.J.H. 1976. The seeds of Dicots, esp. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, New York, Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Engler, A. 1900–1953. Das Pflanzenreich, nos. 1–107. Facsimile edition. Engelmann-Cramer, Weinheim, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, Gaertner, J. 1788–1805. De fructibus et seminibus plantarum. The Author, Stuttgart, Goldberg, A. 1986 (dicots) and 1989 (monocots). Classification, evolution, and phylogeny of the familes of Dicotyledons. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 58 for dicots (314 pp.) and 71 for monocots (74 pp.). [Goldberg's illustrations are reproduced from older publications and these should be consulted], Gunn, C.R. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, Gunn, C.R., J.H. Wiersema, C.A. Ritchie, and J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 and amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182, Wood, C.E., Jr. 1974. A student's atlas of flowering plants: Some dicotyledons of eastern North America, 120 pp. Harper and Row, New York.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Wood, Jr., Baillon, Cronquist, Engler & Prantl, Lefor (1975). Seed illustration(s): Lefor (1975), Gunn & Ritchie, Baillon, Wood, Jr. Embryo illustration(s): Corner, Gunn & Ritchie, Engler & Prantl, Baillon, Wood, Jr.
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Erodium stevenii M. Bieb.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 5. Erodium stevenii M. Bieb.: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Geranium columbianum R. Knuth: fruit segments. • Seed. 4 of 5. Geranium columbianum R. Knuth: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Geranium siamense Craib: embryos.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. Family guide for fruits and seeds: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 12th April 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
